Splitting install and configuration?

Since you can only add one server to a farm at a time, we currently install servers one-after-the-other. However, about 80% of the script time is installing prereqs, binaries, language packs, and updates, which could be done in parallel.

So I was wondering if anyone had tried splitting the script into "AutoSPInstall.ps1" and "AutoSPConfigure.ps1" so that the installers could be run on all servers at once, then just the configure script would have to be done serially.
If so, any suggestions or lessons learned?

Very true! The first part takes a very long time. You can easily accomplish what you want by just pausing after the updates/language packs are installed. In AutoSPInstallerMain.ps1, look for the following lines (around line 94):

PrepForInstall
Run-Install
Setup-Farm
Setup-Services

Put in a "Pause" right after "Run-Install" it should work (I haven't tested). Since it's paused at that point, you could even end the script (press CTRL+C) if you want to continue later. When you're ready, just re-run the script, it will check and skip for
the first two functions, pause and then continue on with the Farm setup.

Hey so with regard to this, the next release will (among many other enhancements) allow you to specify a Pause after binaries are installed. That way you could safely kick off the install on multiple servers, then manually un-pause each and allow the config
to proceed one server at a time.

Based on Wahid's comment, we've been running with the Pause edited in - makes a HUGE difference when doing large farms. For each farm, we'd install the first (CA) server all the way through, verify operations, then kick off the script on every other server
at the same time. Once they've all finished installing the binaries and are paused, then we work through the farm one server at a time running the second half.

For those who create an Alias, simply delete the Alias once the binaries install starts. It will stop when it tries to join the farm (for 2nd server onwards), next time you rerun the script it recreates the Alias.